That depends on a few different things.

If you don’t owe any taxes, there will not be a penalty. If you don’t file your taxes within 3 years though, you will lose any refund the government owed you.

If you DO owe taxes and don’t file on time, there are two different penalties you could face.  Plus, you will have to pay interest on the money that is late.

• Failure-to-file penalty: This penalty is for failing to file your taxes on time and is usually the bigger of the two penalties.
  The failure-to-file penalty is usually 5% of your unpaid taxes for each month (or part of a month) you are late.  It will not exceed 25% of your unpaid taxes.

   

  • If you are over 60 days late, there is a minimum penalty of $205 or 100% of your unpaid taxes, whichever is less.

If you can’t afford to make your entire payment on time, you should still file your taxes to avoid this penalty.

• Failure-to-pay penalty: This is a penalty for failing to pay your taxes on time.  It is usually 0.5% of your unpaid taxes for each month (or part of a month) you are late, starting the day after the payment was due.  It also will not exceed 25% of your unpaid taxes.

If you are subject to both of these penalties in the same month, the IRS won’t charge you 5.5%, they will only charge you a maximum of 5% per month.

Interest: Interest is the federal short term interest rate plus 3%.  At the beginning of 2018, the interest rate is 4.18%, compounded daily.